just looking for some advice, pointers, and suggestions for further reading.

I have:

1 router

1 linux server (ubuntu 10.04)

2 TVs

various speakers

2 desktops

1 iPad

I want to make a home network so that given a request to my server (perhaps GET request to PHP script or something) that my server can start streaming audio or video to any device. I think this will be easier with things that can have IPs (desktop, iPad, etc) but not sure about the others (I don't have an IP TV). I would like to do this over wireless, but I may need Ethernet for HD video, etc.

What can you recommend? I've been recommended MBone. maybe my problem stems form the fact I don't understand how I would push streaming video to a TV, which is "dumb" (no processor or even IP address).

You would need a tool like a Moxi, Apple TV, PS3, Xbox, Western Digital Media Hub, the Boxee Box, or any other myriad $100 boxes to sit between the TV and ethernet. Be careful to check the list of codecs supported by the boxes you consider, some have very short lists of codecs they handle, and others have good long lists.
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sarnoldMay 11 '11 at 1:55

@sarnold: so silly question but what do all of these things actually do "under the hood"? are they just converting to the correct format for the TV and then just sending it down a cable?
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lollercoasterMay 11 '11 at 6:43

under the hood, depending on your they are either reading a supported media file from a network share (most likely Windows/SAMBA share), or receiving it through UPnP-AV/DLNA supported stream. Then they decode it, and play it over HDMI/RGB-SCART/SVideo etc.
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musaulMay 11 '11 at 11:50

1 Answer
1

I'd say forget writing something yourself (unless you want to do this as an academic excercise). Instead, look into UPnP/DLNA.

Get a UPnP server for your linux box. Something like MediaTomb would come highly recomended.

for your TVs you can get something like a boxee or a seagate freeagent/goflex.

I think the existing players in Windows/Ubuntu support DLNA to an extent, but look into XBMC.

For your Ipad get something like media:connect

To push media from server to player, look into DLNA control points (paid version of media:connect can do that. or something like andromote if you have an android phone)

Wifi could be fine for 720p, but for 1080p especially with something like DTS its almost impossible.

Having said all of that, YMMV. I've found that many commercial products (connected TVs especially) hate MKV and DTS (forget DTS-MA or Dolby TrueHD) over DLNA, even if they can play them back from a connected USB drive. Many networked media players also have problems over UPnP/DLNA while they work over a Windows/SAMBA share.

I, personally, having spent plenty of time and money on various combinations, have stuck with a good old Samba share on a NAS drive serving a Seagate media player. All computers have access to it too. Your ipad may have a problem with this though.

OK, so basically what you are saying is this is only possible with DLNA approved electronics, products that are made to be Plug and PLay with UPnP, yes? I guess I want to make my own solution that does better than Boxee and doesn't need components to be DLNA. possible?
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lollercoasterMay 11 '11 at 6:50

If you want remote control and push, and you can't find products that provide you with proprietary remote control hardware/software, it won't be easy. coding something to work between the computers will be the easiest, but as soon as you put non-open devices into the equation the difficulty goes up exponentially.
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musaulMay 11 '11 at 11:43

One of the biggest chipset suppliers for media players is realtek. Most of these players use the dvdplayer program (or a custom version of that). There is a big community around it. You could look into that if you want to try pushing media onto the players. You can start at the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ Forums.
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musaulMay 11 '11 at 11:47